ANCHORAGE, AK – Truth About Pebble, a non-profit citizens’ organization with board members from across Alaska, was unveiled today with plans to inform and educate Alaskans about the Pebble Project, its potential benefits for the state and the process by which it will be reviewed under Alaskan law.

“This is a project that could generate billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs for generations of Alaskans in a region of our state that urgently requires economic development,” said Truth About Pebble Chairman Dick Cattanach, Executive Director of the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. “The opportunity that the Pebble Project represents for the residents of Bristol Bay and the people of Alaska is just too important for it not to receive a full and impartial hearing under Alaskan law. That’s precisely what Truth About Pebble has been established to ensure.”

The Pebble Project is an initiative of Anchorage-based Northern Dynasty Mines Inc. to develop a world-class copper, gold and molybdenum deposit in the Bristol Bay area of Southwest Alaska. Although the company behind Pebble is still exploring the deposit and undertaking technical and environmental studies toward the development of a proposed development plan sometime in 2008, critics have been urging Alaskan legislators and the general public to oppose the project even before it has been defined.

“Our state has its roots in mining and natural resource development,” said Truth About Pebble Vice-Chair Gail Phillips, a former two-term Speaker of the Alaska House. “We also have some of the most abundant and best-managed fish and game resources in the world because of the stringent environmental standards and strict regulatory oversight we have in place.

“So for anyone to tell Alaskans that we can’t responsibly develop our own resources, and that companies shouldn’t be encouraged to invest in our state, is an affront to all of us. After watching the alarmist rhetoric that’s been peddled about this project over the past year, it’s time to say ‘enough is enough.’ Alaskans know better!”

Cattanach and Phillips joined other Truth About Pebble board members from across the state in launching the organization Thursday at a Resource Development Council breakfast in Anchorage. Truth is already supported by more than 20 Alaska businesses and is beginning to receive individual memberships as well, and expects to immediately launch a membership drive to recruit more Alaskans who support responsible resource development.

Members of Truth About Pebble will be speaking at community forums, on radio programs and in other venues that provide an opportunity to educate Alaskans about the Pebble Project and the process by which is will be reviewed and permitted. The organization has also launched a new website – www.truthaboutpebble.org – to carry its message to the people of Alaska.

“As an organization and as individuals, we believe that mineral development can co-exist with clean water, healthy fish and game, and traditional ways of life – but only when it’s done right,” said Truth About Pebble board member Sharon Anderson, an Anchorage business owner. “And Northern Dynasty is doing it right – when it comes to its environmental study program, its local hire and workforce development initiatives, its partnerships with Native organizations and local companies, its support for community initiatives and its stakeholder outreach efforts.

“This is a credible company investing tens of millions of dollars in good faith in our state, and they deserve the right to complete their studies and submit their proposal for the consideration of government agencies and the people of Alaska,” Anderson said.

Anderson added that most Alaskans don’t know that a development plan for the Pebble Project won’t be complete until 2008 at the earliest, or that it will be reviewed by 11 federal and state agencies and the people of Alaska for a period of three years or more before permits are granted. Despite this long development timeline, she said that hundreds of Alaskans are working on the project today.
“The people in my region are certainly benefiting from the Pebble Project, and have come to know and respect Northern Dynasty as a good neighbor,” said Truth About Pebble board member Lisa Reimers, General Manager of Iliamna Development Corporation. “They have provided jobs and training and opportunity for our people, as well as contract opportunities for our businesses.

“More importantly, they have treated us with honesty and respect, and listened to our concerns about protecting the environment and our subsistence resources. This is exactly the kind of opportunity our region so desperately needs, and we won’t allow people from outside Bristol Bay to deny this project a fair hearing under Alaskan law.”